Dubai, UAE · est. 1986 · PrivateGEMS Modern Academy has been running in Dubai since 18 October 1986 and stands in Nad Al Sheba. The school runs two routes on one campus: the Indian one - the CISCE board curriculum with the ICSE examination in grade 10 and ISC in grade 12 - and the International Baccalaureate. From pre-kindergarten to grade 5 children follow the PYP, after which they choose between the Indian and the international route, and they finish with either the IB diploma or the ISC. Teaching is in English. The shape of the day is unusual: lessons in the morning, then lunch, and then what the school calls ICE - three days a week clubs, games and supervised study replace ordinary lessons, so after-school provision is built into the timetable rather than bolted onto it. The campus is large and sporting: two 25-metre pools, an eight-lane athletics track, four basketball courts, two football fields, a cricket pitch with five floodlit nets, three tennis courts, a gym and a cycling track. The school belongs to the GEMS Education group.
Key facts
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
CIS · accreditationIB · PYP, MYP, DP · authorised programmeGEMS · school is part of the networkWhat stands behind each entry
It accredits international schools and is a paying association at the same time. It examines governance and ownership, the curriculum, teaching, student wellbeing, staff and premises; a team of volunteers from other CIS accredited schools visits the school. Membership and accreditation are different things here, and schools confuse them more often than anything else.
What the badge means for this school. The school has been through this organisation's accreditation. It was judged as a whole: governance, safeguarding, staff, premises, teaching. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →A Swiss non-profit, working since 1968. Its programmes are among the most widely recognised school programmes in the world. Authorisation is granted stage by stage, so a school with the final stage does not necessarily run the younger ones; which stages this school holds is set out in the line below.
What the badge means for this school. The school is allowed to run this programme and to award its certificate. This is a confirmation of the programme, not a judgement on the school as a whole. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it. At this school: PYP (ages 3-12), MYP (ages 11-16), DP (ages 16-19). PYP is the primary stage, ages 3 to 12. It is not a set of subjects but a frame for the whole school: learning is built around lines of inquiry, and there are no exams at the end. MYP is the middle stage, ages 11 to 16. There are no exams here either; at the end an optional electronic assessment of pupils' work is possible. DP is the final stage, ages 16 to 19: six subjects plus a compulsory core of theory of knowledge, an extended essay and CAS. The diploma is accepted by universities all over the world, and in a number of countries it counts for admission on the same footing as the local leaving certificate.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →GEMS Education is a private school group that describes itself on its own site as one of the oldest and largest K-12 (to Grade 12 / Year 13) private education providers in the world. The site dates its start to 1959 («Our story began in 1959«, «65+ Years of Legacy«), while another page on the same site says «over 60 Years of Legacy«. School counts on the site disagree: the homepage says both «52 schools across the UAE, Qatar and Egypt« and «Choose from our list of over 47 schools«, while the Our Company page says GEMS has schools «in the Middle East, North Africa, Asia, Europe and North America«. Students: «200,000 students from over 176 countries« (Our Company) and «over 200,000« (homepage). On ownership the site is explicit: «GEMS Education own, operate and manage schools globally« — it both owns and manages, but does not say which schools fall into which category.
What this means for this school. The network owns or operates the school. Its accreditation and programme authorisation the school obtains separately, in its own name.